This has been a week...
a frightening week...
a trying week...
and we are left with more questions than answers (as is often the case for us humans)...
But we are here together in this place--and as we do every week, we come together to share our needs and failings as well as our hopes and triumphs.
We meet here from many walks of life as different as can be... and we meet here as Brothers and Sisters.
Welcome to Brothers and Sisters, the weekly meetup for prayer* and community at Daily Kos. We put an asterisk on pray* to acknowledge that not everyone uses conventional religious language, but may want to share joys and concerns, or simply take solace in a meditative atmosphere. Anyone who comes in the spirit of mutual respect, warmth and healing is welcome.
Someone well known to many of us had some well-timed and much needed thoughts earlier this week: pastordan posted a "Twermon"... quite a set of reflections in tweets. Some highlights:
Safety is an illusion. It cannot be provided in any ultimate sense by militaries or police officers. Good health only lasts so long. You won't live forever. Engineering or policy won't solve every problem, and let me tell you, all those gadgets you got won't save your soul.
The only thing that lasts in the end is love, which means openness to the fear, the pain, the weakness and the loss that go along with life.
Love is the willingness to stand (and sit) with those who experience these things, without having to be right, without having to be smart, without having to be one of the in crowd, without having to be in any kind of control.
Just sit, just stand, and allow your heart to be broken along with theirs. Better: admit that your heart, too, is broken.
My thoughts: Sometimes love is simply being there... and the right way to show is to simply be. No need for words... no need to have all the answers.
Love requires risk, as does an open society. Resist the lure of safety. Freedom is the power to live up to your commitments to those around you.
Which makes me think...To love is to be vulnerable... to be in any sort of relationship means being open to being hurt. We humans are not known for being perfect-- and we fail each other miserably.
But we must continue to love.
I have no answers... I am struggling with my own place in this world. But I know that this community is a healing place for so many of us, and I love that...
Peace...